We live in a fast-paced world where the window of opportunity is often as small as the screen on your smartphone. In this world, simplicity sells.Despite all evidence to the contrary, people resist the principle that simplicity sells. The simple truth is that it does.

People loathe complicated instructions. They quickly abandon websites with confusing navigation. They click off YouTube videos that are too long and too boring.

With shortened attention spans and a lot of competition for mind-share, people want things simplified. It's that plain and, shall we say, simple.

American writing has become more simplified and uncluttered since Ernest Hemingway. Advertising copy and jingles, 28-minute sitcoms and mobile devices all have contributed to the trend of compressing a lot into a little space.

Brevity has gone from a virtue to a necessity. Simplicity helps determine the winner in the binary world of "click on" or "click off."

Yet many people, including PR professionals, continue to insist on "telling the whole story." They miss the point that you have to get people interested in the first line of the story before you earn the opportunity to tell more.

Your content is less about your point than the point you make that is relevant and useful to your listener or viewer. If what you offer is cloudy or convoluted, the value can be lost in a quick exit.

The essence of simplicity is not to dumb down material. Simplicity is all about command of your subject so you can express its essence.

Simplicity takes hard work to achieve. But the effort is worth it because, in this new world, simplicity is what sells.